Chart of the Day: Looking at early goals per game and shot differentials among NHL teams

We are nearly 20% of the way through the 2015-16 NHL season and it is a good time to see how teams are performing. Two of my favorite stats to look at are goals per game and shots per game, which are obviously both correlated to winning games in the NHL.

Here is a quick look at the 2015-16 NHL season when plotting each teams goals per game and shots per game differentials with the top right of the chart being the ideal position for teams:

As you can see above, the Montreal Canadiens are clearly out front in goal differential but interestingly aren't as dominant in the shot department. On the other hand, the Buffalo Sabres are leading the league in shot differential but lag behind most of the league in goal differential.

But how does this compare to last season, here are the numbers as of November 6, 2014:

Team

GDG 2015-16

SDG 2015-16

GDG 2014-15

SDG 2014-15

Anaheim Ducks

-1.167

-2.833

0.085

1.110

Arizona Coyotes

0.000

-2.833

-1.244

-4.012

Boston Bruins

0.250

3.000

0.098

1.183

Buffalo Sabres

-0.846

5.923

-1.415

-11.415

Calgary Flames

-1.714

-2.000

0.293

-1.695

Carolina Hurricanes

-0.667

3.667

-0.439

3.512

Chicago Blackhawks

0.077

3.539

0.415

3.659

Colorado Avalanche

-0.385

-1.923

-0.171

-5.280

Columbus Blue Jackets

-1.214

-1.143

-0.256

-4.585

Dallas Stars

0.692

0.923

0.000

1.268

Detroit Red Wings

-0.083

-6.917

0.244

1.305

Edmonton Oilers

-0.385

-1.846

-1.012

-1.622

Florida Panthers

0.462

-3.308

-0.183

1.122

Los Angeles Kings

0.231

2.769

0.256

3.927

Minnesota Wild

0.167

0.833

0.354

3.134

Montreal Canadiens

1.867

1.467

0.366

-1.658

Nashville Predators

0.500

2.500

0.293

3.622

New Jersey Devils

-0.250

-1.750

-0.402

-6.219

New York Islanders

0.357

-0.214

0.256

5.488

New York Rangers

1.167

-3.000

0.744

2.000

Ottawa Senators

0.000

-3.231

0.293

-1.171

Philadelphia Flyers

-1.154

-2.615

-0.134

-0.829

Pittsburgh Penguins

0.417

0.417

0.159

2.354

San Jose Sharks

0.154

3.077

-0.024

1.890

St. Louis Blues

0.385

3.308

0.512

3.683

Tampa Bay Lightning

0.133

-1.933

0.646

1.720

Toronto Maple Leafs

-1.000

-0.333

-0.622

-4.280

Vancouver Canucks

0.615

1.385

0.195

0.085

Washington Capitals

0.917

4.917

0.463

0.622

Winnipeg Jets

0.357

-1.571

0.232

1.085

Plotted out, here is how the above looks:

A simple way to compare how each team has changed is to measure the distance between the two points, which will show us the teams who are seeing the biggest movement (least consistent - good or bad) and which teams are seeing the smallest (most consistent - good or bad).